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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23451241">You are Safe with Me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roger_That_Sarge/pseuds/Roger_That_Sarge'>Roger_That_Sarge</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Flowers in the Fire [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>9-1-1 (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Abusive Parents, Abusive Relationships, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Crimes &amp; Criminals, Dad Evan "Buck" Buckley, Fire, Firefighter maddie, Gen, Human Trafficking, Hurt Evan "Buck" Buckley, Minor Character Death, Minor Injuries, Minor Violence, Pre-Relationship, Protective Maddie Buckley, Protective Siblings, Sibling Love, Whump</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 14:22:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,498</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23451241</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Roger_That_Sarge/pseuds/Roger_That_Sarge</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>She blinked back the tears as she realized the fact that since the day he was born, Evan Buckley had never been safe.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Athena Grant/Bobby Nash, Eddie Diaz &amp; Maddie Buckley (9-1-1 TV), Evan "Buck" Buckley &amp; Ali Martin, Evan "Buck" Buckley &amp; Maddie Buckley, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Doug Kendall, Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Evan “Buck” Buckley &amp; Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV), Maddie Buckley/Howie "Chimney" Han</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Flowers in the Fire [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1687051</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>398</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>9-1-1 Tales</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>You are Safe with Me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>‘Ha! Suck it Howard!’, Maddie proclaimed, standing up from her place at the table in the firehouse. A full house laying in front of her on the tabletop as Chimney looked on in despair. Maddie ignored the defeated look on her boyfriend’s face, reaching for the pile of skittles in the middle of the table, claiming them all.</p><p>‘You never learn do you Chim’, Eddie laughed, patting Chimney’s shoulder on his way to make another cup of coffee. They were in hour twenty of a twenty-four shift. The firehouse was quiet, except for the joyful humming from Maddie as she munched on her victory skittles. Bobby had placed a ban on using money during team poker games after Maddie had emptied their pockets too many times. Now, they kept emergency packets of skittle’s and M&amp;Ms hidden in a spare locker for moments like these.</p><p>  ‘Chim loose to Maddie again?’, Hen smirked, wandering up the stairs to the loft, arms filled with finished paperwork.</p><p>‘She destroyed me’, Chimney groaned, laying his head on the tabletop, ‘I’m pretty sure I am some how in skittle-debt to her now’. Maddie just smirked, tossing a blue skittle into the air and catching in her mouth. Winking at Hen as she watched Chim whine about poker faces and tricks.</p><p>‘I often wonder if this is a workplace or daycare center’ Bobby sighed. Despite his wistful tone, he had a soft smile on his face as he grabbed the paperwork from Hen’s arms. It had been a slow enough day that they were able to properly do an inventory of medical supplies.</p><p>‘Hey! I am a father, I think I should be ruled out of that one’, Eddie protested, sitting on the counter as he drank his mug.</p><p>Chimney snorted from his hiding place on the table. ‘Which one of us got their head stuck between two metal bar on his day off because his kid dared him too?’.</p><p>Eddie scoffed, setting down his mug. He had a playful glint in his eyes as he walked towards Chimney. He tapped his knuckles against the older firefights head, digging them into his temple to make him squirm.</p><p> ‘You know what Chimney, you can-’. The blaring of the alarm and red flashing lights disrupted the fun and peaceful atmosphere of the station.</p><p> Maddie abandoned her skittles, dashing down the stairs to grab her turnout gear. Quickly slipping into the heavy gear, the weight a familiar defense against the horrors they were sure to be facing. A call after 2am was nearly always one that would haunt her. It followed the crew back to the bunks, often ending in them sitting shoulder to shoulder on the locker room benches as Bobby silently observed them all.</p><p>‘Ready to go save some lives future Mrs. Han’, Chimney called. Maddie turned to observe him. She could see the same resigned fear and powerful determination to help people in his warm brown eyes that she felt in her chest. She handed him her med-bag. Placing a quick kiss to his cheek.</p><p>‘Don’t get ahead of yourself Howie, there’s no ring on this finger!’, she teased, walking backwards towards the truck. She could see the way he blushed slightly at her comment, eyes softer as he gazed and walked towards her. ‘A man can dream Maddie’, he replied.</p><p>‘Come on love birds, you’re holding the rest of us up’, Eddie teased, sweeping past them, extra supplies in hand as he rushed towards the truck Bobby was hanging out of.</p><p>                                                                                          *</p><p>The feeling that had settled in Maddie’s chest had worsened as she sat in the back of the ladder truck. Bobby was still on the phone with the police, gathering what information he could as they raced into the night.</p><p>Her knee bounced beside Eddies, knocking off it rhythmically. She just couldn’t shake the hollow pit she felt in her stomach. Her bones felt as if they were going to vibrate out of her skin with the dread that was sweeping throughout her body. She bit at the corner of her thumb, pulling at a hang nail that had appeared somewhere between calls that day. She needed to focus. They only had a location. A warehouse. It shouldn’t be making her as nervous as she felt.</p><p>‘You feel it too?’, Eddie asked quietly. His fingers were knotted in a homemade bracelet, twisting it round and round. The army greens and the bright blues clashed horribly with his gear and tanned skin. However, he wore it proudly everyday since Christopher had made it for him in school.</p><p>‘I feel…hollow’, Maddie replied, grimacing as her stomach swooped.</p><p>Eddie simply nodded, eyes darting forwards to meet Bobby’s. Their Captain had a blank face, yet his eyebrows were pinched in concern. He made affirmative noises every few seconds before glancing at his crew, eyes cold as he thanked whoever was on the line before ending the call.</p><p>‘Five minutes out’ he warned, shifting slightly to get a better view of his team. Maddie was looking skittishly around the truck, her energy effecting Eddie as he played with the bracelet. Hen was running a hand over her head before settling it on her neck for comfort.</p><p>Chimney was in the ambulance with Ramirez and Linette who would be brief by the Chief.</p><p>‘We ain’t gonna like this call are we Cap?’, Hen quietly asked, looking over her shoulder at Bobby. He shook his head, bracing himself to relay the information he had gotten from the Chief and then Athena.</p><p>‘It’s a warehouse fire. Big one. They don’t know how many are inside, the 126 and the 114 are already on the scene evacuating and treating people. As is Athena’ Bobby hesitated in continuing, swallowing down the bile that had risen in his throat. Athena’s words running throughout his head. It was going to be a messy and mentally draining scene. He needed to prepare his team but no matter what words he used; nothing would make this easier.</p><p>‘There’s more to it than a simple fire or teenagers breaking into an abandoned site’, Maddie whispered, picking at her nails, flicking a concerned eye towards her Captain.</p><p>Bobby nodded, running a hand over his face.</p><p>‘Athena is at the scene. They had planned a raid of the warehouse for tonight, there were undercover officers inside. FBI and LAPD. It was suspected that someone was running a brothel and human trafficking ring out of the warehouse. It seems they got spooked…and decided to burn the evidence down’.</p><p>Eddie cursed, fists clenching, ‘By evidence you mean…you mean the people they were trafficking’.</p><p>‘That’s just sick’, Maddie breathed out, her voice stone cold. Bobby could see a fierce determination in her eyes. A stubbornness that he had sensed in her from her probation days. Maddie was not going to be leaving the scene without making sure that building was empty.</p><p>Bobby had been worried his team would bow under the pressure, the nervous energy in the truck had been overwhelming but this was his team. Eddie had a stillness, a calmness to him that betrayed his military training. His nervous hands now steady and eyes focused with a burning rage that would aid him in rescuing those who had been abused at the hands of the people who tried to burn them alive. Hen had begun coordinating whatever equipment she could get her hands on within the cab of the truck. Her voice strong and calm as she debated with Maddie about what potential survivors would need. Bobby’s chest constricted with pure unadulterated love and pride for this little family of his. His team.</p><p>                                                                                          *</p><p>The skyline was illuminated by the flames consuming the warehouse. It’s grey structure flickering with organs and reds, sparks jumping into the night. It reminded Maddie of the fireworks they used to see back home during Halloween. All jumping, deadly and enticing. Menacing as they exploded. The crackling was deafening as bodies rushed around her as she stepped down from the truck. The building was groaning under the assault of the flames, almost as if it too was dying, as if it was in need of rescuing but did not know how much more it could take.</p><p>She took the oxygen tank Eddie handed her. Allowing him to secure it to her back quickly as she double checked her gear. Her walkie was fitted with new batteries, tuned to the frequency specialized for the 118. Her mask fit perfectly, straps just tight enough to hold in place if someone tugged on it during rescue or it snagged on something jagged. Her helmet was the last she secured to her person before nodding to Eddie and taking her place at his side, awaiting instructions.</p><p>‘Buckley, Diaz, both of you are to take the east of the building. The 126 are clearly the North from the other side, the 114 have the West covered. We are to enter from the south and work east. Hen, Chim, there is a triage center set up over there. They need all hands-on deck. They’re being overrun with patients. Back up is twenty minutes out’ Bobby instructed, hands working at the straps of his own helmet.</p><p>‘Stay with each other. Do what you can. We don’t know how many more are in the building, or when it will give out. Don’t do anything stupid. I want all of you coming home tonight, am I clear?’</p><p>They nodded, eyes steeled and ready for the battle that would ensure. Maddie worked at blocking out the screams and cries that tore through the night around her. Eddie was a steady presence by her side, calming and supportive. They were a team and she knew he would get her out if anything were to happen.</p><p>‘Ready whenever you are Eddie’, she called, holding out a fist for him to bump. It was their ritual before heard calls. A last touch to remind the other that once they were inside and the smoke was distorting their vision, the flames licking too close to their bodies, that they weren’t alone. His knuckles against her was a familiar weight and warmth before they were running towards the blaze.</p><p>The warmth greeted them like an old friend, enveloping them within its deathly grasp. The smell of the smoke clung to every sense, almost derailing their steps as they made their way down a long hall on the east side of the building. Some rooms had the doors on the ground, splintering from the heat and being kicked down. She watched as Eddie slowed ahead of her, picking his way over the debris, ducking under a fallen beam.</p><p>The smoke got thicker the further they went. They took their time ducking into rooms filled with beds, stages, some simply had burning blankets and chains bolted to the floor. Eddie was cursing rapidly in Spanish ahead of her, or maybe he was praying for those that had been housed within the torture these walls held.</p><p>Maddie found to increasingly difficult to swallow the lump forming in her throat, the tears beginning to burn her eyes as the rooms began to look emptier, smaller, empty chains littering the floors. Some of the walls had gouges in them. Tallying the days. Others had a list of names. The one that made her feel like the floor was falling from under her was a sentence scratched into the wall. ‘I have forgotten my real name. Who am I? Will they find me?’.</p><p>‘Do you hear that?’ Eddie yelled over the constant crackle of the fire. Maddie paused her steps, eyes closing briefly, focusing her thoughts. She allowed herself to tune down the fire, the groaning of the structure. There was a thumping ahead of them. A muffled shout.</p><p>‘It’s up ahead to the left’, she yelled back, pushing past Eddie to follow the sound. There was a door towards the end, still locked and standing. She could hear someone crying, banging against the door so hard it rattled. ‘Eddie, I need you to kick open the door’.</p><p>Eddie nodded as she stepped aside, pressing a hand to the door. ‘Hello? Can you hear me in there?’, a muffled yes came back and the door rattled harder. ‘Okay, I need to kick the door open, please move to the side it won’t swing open to okay? Shout when you’ve moved’. He waited a minute before a shout came through. He moved, bracing his heavy boot against the door next to the lock. He counted slowly before kicking the door hard, it groaned but did not open fully. He could hear a woman crying.</p><p>‘Keep back, I’m going to kick again’ he warned. This time the door swung open after his boot made contact with the lock. It sung inwards, clattered off the wall as a woman ran forward. Her short brown hair a mess, makeup running down her face as she coughed from the smoke. She was scantily clad, a sunflower tattoo on her ribs that stuck out slightly. She had something wrapped in a blanket, cradled to her chest.</p><p>‘Take her please, I don’t….I don’t feel so good’, she coughed, swaying in place. Maddie ran forward, taking the buddle from the woman. Inside was a little girl, her face covered by a cloth to protect her from the smoke, her big blue eyes filled with tears ay being handed away from the woman before her. Eddie checked the woman over, handing her a mask for her face before picking her up.</p><p>‘Diaz and Buckley here Cap. I have a woman and child; the east is clear. Exiting the building now’, Eddie briefed Bobby before nodding to Maddie as they began to pick their way back down the hall towards the exit.</p><p>‘Chim! I have little girl here with possible smoke inhalation’, Maddie yelled as she spotted him hovering by the 118 ambulance. Within seconds the girl was taken from Maddie’s arms by Hen with Chimney talking softly to the girl as they brought her into the ambulance, out of the cold night to see what they could do to help her.</p><p>‘Maddie, grab the oxygen from the truck’, Eddie called as he knelt on the ground. He shrugged off his jacket, wrapping around the shaking form of the woman he had placed on the ground. It covered her bare body and torn clothes, the bruises on her thighs and hips as she shook from a mixture of the cold and the coughs wracking her lungs. She opened her mouth to speak but Eddie shook his head, taking the mask Maddie had handed him and encouraging her to take a few deep breaths as Maddie did a basic exam. He kept a steady and calm tone while talking to her softly, watching the woman’s eyes dart around desperately between the medics’ tent and the entrance to the building.</p><p>‘Good job guys’, Bobby called out, jogging towards them, ‘We think we got everyone out. The 126 nearly have the fire under control, Ramirez and Linette are helping them out’.</p><p>The woman removed the mask, trying to stand as Maddie tried to steady her. Her voices scratchy and desperate as she spoke, ‘Did you get Spot? Is he alive?’. Tears threatened to spill again as she glanced between the firefighters, a fear so intense in her gaze that Maddie felt it in her soul. It hurt to look at her desperation.</p><p>‘I am sorry ma’am…. there were now dogs found on the premise’, Bobby spoke slowly, hands in front of him to placate her gently.</p><p>The small woman’s glare cut through the older man as she crossed trembling arms across her chest. Her sudden anger was intense and protective, defensive against the gentle tone Bobby had used.</p><p>‘Spot isn’t a dog’, she spat, coughing once more as Eddie tried to get the mask back in her hands, encouraging her to put it back on. She refused, batting him away. ‘They took our names. We weren’t to use them. They used markers or scars to name us. I was Sunflower because of my tattoo, my real name is Ali. Spot had a birth mark over his eye. He protected us when he could. He’s been here the longest, since he was 19 or 20. When they tried to burn us…when they went to…he fought them. The last I saw before they locked me in was one of them hitting him in the head with a pipe. He has to be okay. Please find him. He’s over six-foot, blond hair, birth mark and big blue eyes. None of us would have made it this long without him’.</p><p>She was sobbing now, hands trembling as she whispered, ‘He has to have made it. He deserves to be free more than any of us. Eddie reached out towards her again, wrapping an arm around the distressed woman, fixing the mask back over her face as Bobby lowered himself to match her height. ‘Ali, we rescued a lot of people tonight. There’s a tent over there, why don’t you take a few deep breathes and I will bring you over and we can find Spot. If he was in there, then we got him out’. She nodded, closing her eyes and letting Eddie and Bobby count her breaths till she stopped shaking.</p><p>Maddie turned away, back towards the smoldering building and wisps of smoke. Her eyes finally releasing a few tears as she listened to Bobby and Eddie talk to the young woman before them. She noticed Athena standing, hands on her hips closer to the building. Her stance powerful and imposing as other officers cuffed and lined up a group of men. Each of the struggling and well dressed, spitting at the officers handling them. Athena faced them with a fierceness Maddie had long admired, never wavering in the face of their words.</p><p>A shadow caught her eyes, drawing her gaze from Athena to a man that seemed to be dragging someone from the smoke towards the opposite direction from the medical tent and officers. She took a step forward, preparing to aid the person when her blood froze. The light from an ambulance pulling into the lot made the man wince, his features illuminated. Her heart pounded in her chest as she stumbled forward, eyes on the face as the man turned to face her. She didn’t notice the gun in his hands until Athena was rushing in front of her, arm barring her from getting closer to the man.</p><p>Athena was speaking but Maddie couldn’t hear her words. Before her was a man that had haunted her dreams a few times over the years. One that constantly lingered at the back of her mind. His brown hair had a few specs of grey near the temple, his eyes brows were wrinkled with confusion and his face painfully blank for someone that had just wandered out of a fire. Out of a known brothel and trafficking ring. It was his eyes that scared Maddie, they were frantically assessing the attention she had drawn to him. There was a wild desperation that she had witnessed before in perps at scenes they were called to. Bloody scratched lined his arms, he had a black eye and blood on his shirt. She called out in disbelief, ‘Doug?’.</p><p>‘Maddie, oh my god Maddie. I am so glad to see you, I need help Maddie’, Doug whimpered, hand never dropping the gun. A shuffle came from behind him, but he was quick to draw the attention back to his face. Tears streaked through the dirt and flecks of blood on his face. ‘Maddie, you have to help me. I lost him Maddie. I came to find him, but I don’t know what happened’.</p><p>Maddie felt all air leave her body; the grief drowned out her instincts telling her to focus on the noises behind him. The instincts telling her to step back, that Doug was dangerous.</p><p>‘Maddie, you know this guy?’ Athena questioned; gun positioned at her side incase she needed to draw it quickly. Maddie had frozen before her, eyes welling with tears at the man’s words. Her mouth trying to form words, but she wasn’t able to get them out.</p><p>‘I’m her brother-in-law. I married her younger brother Evan seven years ago’, Doug spoke through forced sobs, ‘I am so sorry Maddie. He…he started hanging out with these people he met at work. There were drugs Maddie. He wasn’t the same. He started trying to leave, he ran from me. From your father, when we tried to help. I followed his trail to this place. Maddie, I think something bad happened him. I need to go find him. Can you check the people that came out? I need to find him Maddie. You know…you know Ev is my world, Maddie’.</p><p>Athena hesitated, gun lowering further at the grief and desperation rolling off of the man before her. She watched carefully as the gun shook in his hold, lowered by his side. Maddie made a move towards him, as if she was going to embrace her brother-in-law. The woman’s arms shaking as she sobbed. Athena hadn’t even known she had a younger brother.</p><p>‘Doug, I…’ Maddie began, taking another step towards the shaking figure in front of her when a gasped breath snapped her attention towards the ground behind him once more. A hysterical, bitter laugh followed by wet coughs and groaning filled the air, breaking the spell that Doug had seemed to be weaving.</p><p>A pale hand wrapped around Doug’s ankle, a face half appearing on the ground from behind him. ‘You…you are so full of shit Doug. Don’t listen to him Officer, he runs this place’, a strained voice came from a disembodied face peaking round Doug’s leg. The voice filled was pain and breathy. The face was indistinguishable in the dim light but the voice that followed was one Maddie knew in the dark. She knew that voice better than she knew herself. Had always prided herself in being able to make that voice laugh and smile. Evan. Her sweet brother was in the middle of this horrific mess.</p><p>Time almost seemed to move in slow motion after his voice made its way through the grief and fear Doug’s tale had woven within her. She watched in shock as Doug’s sobbing went quiet, every facial muscle smoothing out in a calm anger. A dangerous one. Within the space of seconds Doug had turned, delivering a harsh, loud kick to the stomach of the man behind him. Before Athena could raise her weapon and yell ‘Don’t move’, Maddie was forced to watch as a hand knotted in dirty blond hair dragged her brothers beaten, bloody and small body across gravel. Doug had the gun pressed against Evan’s bleeding temple within seconds, hauling his larger body in front of his own. It was a sick display of a human shield. Evans feet dragged on the ground, bare and cut, not even making a whimper as he was held. The sweet bright blue eyes Maddie had always loved were empty, no pain or fear, just blind acceptance. A scream tore from Maddie’s throat. Clawing its way into the night as she watches the scene unfold.</p><p>‘Put the gun down Doug’, Athena warned, gesturing to the crowd of firefighters and officers rushing towards them. Eddie was at Maddie’s side in an instance, an arm wrapping around his partner as her legs threatened to give out. Her sobbing was soundless, setting Eddie’s nerves on edge.</p><p>‘Doug please’, Maddie begged, watching the blood from a head wound trickle down her brother’s face. ‘Please Doug, let me take Evan, he’s hurt. If you give me Evan, I can help you. Just let me help him’.</p><p>Dough sneered at her, pressing the gun straight into the head wound, making Evan jerk in his hold, trying to get away from the pain. ‘He’s mine. He always has been. We are leaving together, Madeline. He has never wanted anything to do with you. Just let us go and we will go home. Otherwise I will kill him right here and let the good officer take me out. If I’m not breathing, he’s not allowed to either’.</p><p>‘Maddie, let the officer shoot. I will be okay. Its okay Maddie, he needs to be stoppe-’ Evans voice cut off in shock, Doug’s hand dropping from his hair to grab Evan by the throat. Squeezing warningly, cutting off Evan’s oxygen supply as his fingers automatically raised, trying to pry the fingers off him. ‘You bitch, watch your manners Evan. I have taught you better than to speak out of turn’, Doug hissed, fingers relaxing on the gun slightly while focusing on bearing Evans weight with the hand around his throat.</p><p>Maddie made eye contact with her brother, watching as they began to dim as he struggled to fight back. The acceptance of his death was too clear in those eyes that had stolen Maddie’s breath when she was ten years old and he was this tiny bundle in her mothers arm, his small fingers wrapping round her finger and squeezing her heart and finger in one. Despite his waning strength he didn’t stop fighting, tearing Doug’s attention from the officers surrounding him as he struggled to keep Evan still against him. Curses flying from his mouth as his hand tightened.</p><p>Athena nudged Eddie from where he stood holding Maddie back. He watched as her eyes drifted towards her gun and then towards the space just above Evan’s shoulder. She had a clear shot and needed to take it before he killed the young man in his grasp. Eddie nodded, arms tightening around his sobbing partner. He watched as Athena tapped the side of her firearm, counting down so as not to alert Maddie, or Doug of her plan. On the third tap Eddie whirled around, yanking his screaming partner away from the sight as a loud pop tore through the night, the world pausing in that second and the smell of burnt gunpowder exploding around them. Maddie clawed at his biceps as the sound of two bodies hitting the ground reached their ringing ears.</p><p>Within seconds Chimney was in front of him, nodding towards the assailant and his hostage as he took a shaking Maddie in his arms.</p><p>Eddie nodded before turning once more, rushing forward as he took stock of the scene. Doug was on his back, breath rattling in his chest as blood bubbled on his lips. From the sound of his breathing, Athena had pierced his lung. He paramedics from the 114 rushed forward to deal with his gasping form as Eddie drew his eyes towards the sound of broken laughter.</p><p>Evan, the hostage, was lying on his back after rolling away from the body of his husband. He was shirtless, only clad in a pair of thin boxers now that Eddie could get a good look at him. He was dressed similarly to the girl from before, Ali. His legs and body covered in bruises and cuts, scared pale skin as Eddie got closer. His head was bleeding as he gazed at the stars, a small triumphant smile on his face. It was then that Eddie noticed the chunk missing from his shoulder and the blood pooling under him. Athena had clipped this kid with a bullet.</p><p>‘Hen! I need a hand over here and a gurney’, Eddie yelled, falling to his knees beside the younger man. Bright blue eyes followed him lazily as one of the 114 paramedics chucked him so gauze to stop the bleeding. Eddie was quick to start packing the wound on his shoulder, watching the mans face for any signs of discomfort. His pale, dirty face remained blank as he watched Eddie.</p><p>‘How are you hanging in there…Evan?’, Eddie questioned as Hen fell into rhythm beside him, taking care of the headwound. She tried to clear a patch of blood over one of the man’s eyes before realizing this was a birthmark. Eddie’s chest constricted as he was suddenly hit with the revelation. This man, the one bleeding out under his hands, was Spot. The man who had tried to save the others when the owners had attempted to destroy all evidence by setting fire to the warehouse. He pressed his free thumb against the mark gently, glancing back down at the younger man’s eyes. Reading the question in his hazy gaze. Eddie smiled softly, reassuring him as he spoke, ‘You’re Spot, aren’t you? Boy, some of these people are gonna be happy you’re okay man’.</p><p>The words seemed to ignite a spark within the injured man. He quickly pushed himself up on tired elbows as Eddie and Hen attempted to press him back down. The monitor beside Hen that she had clipped to his finger was beeping erratically. The younger man, Evan, was starting to panic. Eddie kept his pressure on the wound as Maddie came forward to help, but Bobby and Chimney pulled her back.</p><p>‘Hey…hot firefighter…. where…is…Sunflower?’ Evan croaked, making eye contact with Eddie. His lips dragging into a small smirk. Eddie ducked his head as Hen chocked back a laugh from behind the young man. He fought the blush he knew wanted to appear on his cheeks. Trying to focus on the fact that the guy hitting on him had to be at least five years younger and was currently bleeding out after a traumatic event. Yet he could still feel those blue eyes on him as he took a deep breath before looking back up. He raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the guy, looking down towards his hands that were stained with his blood before speaking.</p><p>‘You are literally bleeding out all over me right now man, you don’t have time to be hitting on me’, Eddie scolded, pressing his wound a little firmer as Hen muttered that Evan’s vitals were dipping, ‘Sunflower is fine. We need to focus on you right now. We need to get you out of here and to a hospital, you’re going to at least need a blood transfusion between your gunshot wound and headwound, handsome’.</p><p>Evan jerked in his hold at his words. Although he had been going for reassuring, the younger male was clearly beginning to panic. His vitals began to drop alarmingly fast, his eyes going wild as he shoved at Eddie and Hen weakly. Pulling himself to sit up. ‘I…am not…g-going anywhere…till I see her’, Evan protested fiercely, his voice barely a whisper now as a little blood dripping from his lips. Eddie glanced at Hen, hand on Evans chest, trying to get the distracted man to lie back flat.</p><p> ‘Hen, I think he may have ruptured something inside the throat. He’s starting to bleed. We need to move him fast’, Eddie called out, ‘Eyes on me Evan, you’re going to be okay. Just don’t struggle or talk okay?’. Evan made a small broken sound as he tried to speak again, the movement aggravating whatever injury was hidden under the skin of his throat. Eddie cupped the youngers face, running a calming thumb along his cheekbone, trying to project his intentions to the other man as he struggled, mouthing the word ‘Sunflower’ at Eddie.</p><p>‘Spot!’, a voice yelled from behind Eddie and there she was, Sunflower, or Ali as she had told them. She was still wearing his turnout jacket, looking smaller than when he had pulled her from the fire. Her injuries covered in bandages as she settled beside him. Eddie dropped his hand from Evan’s face as Ali reached for his. Her hand brushed the mark above Evan’s eye, she pressed her forehead against his as Evan watched her. ‘We got out. We’re okay, we’re okay Evan. You did it, you protected us’ she told him softly, reassuring him.</p><p> She pulled back as Evan’s hand came to rest on hers. He smiled at her, it lit up his entire face, his tired eyes dancing with joy.</p><p>‘Good…bye Sunflower’, Evan croaked. Before Eddie, Hen or even Ali could react to those words, Evan’s eyes had closed, his breathing went shallow. Beside Hen, the portal EKG machine started to go haywire and Evan collapsed forward against Eddie. His head hit his shoulder, there was a puff on air against the side of his neck and then it stopped.</p><p>A resounding beep tore through the open night air, Maddie screamed her brother’s name and all hell broke loose once again.</p><p>                                                                                          *</p><p>The hard plastic of the hospital waiting room chair dug into Maddie’s back, her eyes fixed on the ceiling, counting the tile as her head rested against the wall. It had been four hours. Four hours since her brother had said goodbye. Since his eyes had closed and he had flatlined in her partners arms. She hadn’t even realized she’d been screaming until her Captain had pulled her away from the scene, engulfing her in a fatherly hug as her friends worked desperately to get her little brothers heart restarted on the unforgiving ground of a warehouse parking lot as his husband laid dead from his injuries feet away.</p><p>Just over four hours ago she had been attending a fire and as far as she had known her little brother was living in Pennsylvania with a husband she hadn’t approved of. He might not have talked to her in over seven years but he had been safe. He was meant to be safe, loved, adored by his husband that he had chosen over her. She could live with that as long as he was safe.</p><p>She blinked back the tears as she realized the fact that since the day he was born, Evan Buckley had never been safe.</p><p>‘Hey, I brought you some coffee’, Eddie approached, crouching in front of his partner. Maddie drew her head away from the wall slowly, pulling herself back into reality. It was then she realized that her team, her family were still here. Chimney was a solid warmth at her side, hand holding hers, thumb rubbing gentle circles into her hand. Hen was at the vending machine across from her, stock piling on sugary snacks to revive their energy levels. Athena and Bobby were talking quietly in the seats across from her, Bobby’s gaze flickering to catalogue them all every few seconds. Ensuring they were safe. And Eddie, her partner, the man who watched her back, was in front of her, warm hand on her knee and coffee tray balanced in the other.</p><p>‘Thank you Eds’, she tried to smile but she just couldn’t muster the energy. All her fight had left when she had watched Doug hold a gun to Evans head.</p><p>‘He’ll be okay Mads, I don’t know him, but he seems like a fighter. One of the girls we rescued, Ali, told me that none of them would have made it out of there without your brother. He was the one that unlocked most of the doors and chains when the fire was started before that guy got him’, Eddie spoke gently, handing her the coffee.</p><p>‘That’s Evan for you, he was always trying to…to protect everyone’ Maddie chocked on the tears building once more, angrily wiping away one or two that escaped, ‘He was so good. He was meant to be safe and I let him down’.</p><p>‘Hey, I don’t know your brother Maddie, but this is not your fault. I can assure that he would feel the same. The only person to be blamed is that man that hurt him and those we arrested’, Athena spoke up as she moved to sit beside Maddie, hand resting on her shoulder, squeezing as Maddie shook her head.</p><p>‘It is. I shouldn’t have left him. I…I should have taken him with me. I knew what our father was like. I knew Doug was no good for him. I knew his reputation and god; he was my age. My dad let him date Ev when he was 17. Doug was 27. Did you know he hasn’t spoken to me since he was 18? That’s seven years of his life I missed, that I could have tried harder to find him, to see him’ Maddie sobbed as Chimney wrapped an arm around her should, Eddie squeezed her knee as Bobby took the coffee from her trembling hand only for Hen to take her hand.</p><p>Her family was surrounding her, offering her strength and all she could think about was a little blond-haired boy with bright blue eyes that had never had this.</p><p>‘He was an accident. Our parents told him that as soon as he could understand those words, but I loved him from the moment I saw him. He was my baby brother. I raised him after mom died, I…I protected him from Dad as best as I could, but I left him when I was offered a scholarship out of state. I could have brought him with me. He was still so young, and I left him’, Maddie whispered, the guilt burning throughout her chest and manifesting in the words that wouldn’t stop spilling from her mouth.</p><p>‘By the time I made my way home to ask him to come with me, to take the scholarship to UCLA and live with me while I worked at the 118 it was too late. I left him and Doug got his claws into him. He told me he couldn’t leave, that I wasn’t family anymore because I had left him with dad and never looked back. That Doug had been there for him. He had been grooming him since he was 16, he coached Evans first aid class. He wanted to be a pediatric nurse, but he married Doug. And I fought with him, I told him he was throwing his life away and he’d end up like our mother and he never spoke to me again’.</p><p>‘I left him there’, Maddie whispered as if it was painful to admit.</p><p>‘Hey kiddo’, Bobby stroked her hair softly, Eddie having moved aside to let him crouch in front of her, ‘You did everything you could in a bad situation. He knew you loved him. That much was obvious when he tried to protect you today. He didn’t want you to see him hurting. He isn’t going to blame you when he pulls through this Maddie. He’s going to be so happy your there because you’re his big sister and you helped save him. And we will be here, every step of the way for you both because this is your family. This is Evan’s family. We won’t leave either of you kids, okay?’.</p><p>Maddie nodded softly, hope sparking in her chest as she fell into her Captains arms. Her sobs dying down as the arms of her family members joined the pile. Holding together her fracturing pieces. Giving her a little bit of the strength, she couldn’t muster within herself. Her pillars of support. She closed her eyes and let herself breath it in. They would love Evan enough between them all that he would never again feel abandoned.</p><p>‘Excuse me? Is the family of Evan Kendall present?’.</p><p>                                                                                          *</p><p>Evan looked so small for a twenty-five-year-old man who was over six foot tall. The bruises on his neck stood out starkly against the sterile white of the hospital bed he was lying in. Maddie sat at his side, cataloguing the galaxy of angry reds, purples and blues that peaked out from behind the small bandage strapped to the front of his throat. They had to perform a keyhole surgery to repair a damaged artery in his throat that had bleed into his lungs, requiring a further surgery to drain the blood from his lung. His shoulder was a mess of stitched together wounds from the gunshot graze. An oxygen mask was fitted over his nose and mouth, helping him breath. An iv was connected to his left hand, allowing him to rest painlessly for a little while. The steady beating of the EKG machine helped her relax as she held his hand gently. She pressed a gentle kiss to his bruised knuckles.</p><p>Athena had been right. Evan was a fighter. The fact he was still here, that his heart was beating so strongly after everything he had endured was proof. Her brother was going to be fine. She was sure of it.</p><p>‘Any further news?’, Eddie asked, entering the room. He glanced at Chimney who was asleep in the corner of the room on the other chair. Eddie took up post standing beside her chair. She gazed up at her partner, a small smile tugging at her lips.</p><p>There was a look of relief on Eddie’s face. She had almost forgotten he had been the one Evan had collapsed onto, that it was him who had to wash her brothers’ blood off his hands. Calls like the one they had just been through were some of the hardest they face, and this was the first time they had been able to stay, to see the person pull through. Somedays, leaving it at the door of the hospital was the hardest part of there job. One Eddie had always struggled with.</p><p>‘He should wake up soon and then they’ll check him over, see if there’s any lasting damage from the headwound and the…the strangulation’, Maddie sighed, squeezing her brothers knuckles. Smiling when she felt his fingers twitch against hers in response to the stimulus.</p><p>‘He’s one stubborn guy, I’ll give him that’, Eddie laughed, gazing at Maddie, ‘Did Hen tell you he called me hot while bleeding all over me from that gunshot wound? I was covered in soot, blood and sweat and he looked up at me and called me hot. Hen nearly died trying not to laugh at your little brother’. Maddie started giggling, glancing up at Eddie in disbelief, tiredness and the lack of adrenaline leading them both into a fit of laughter.</p><p>‘Hey…the ss-sweat, b-blood and smoke just ad-added to the hotness factor, mister-let-me-call-the-bleeding-guy h-handsome’ a voice croaked, breaking the two out of their stupor, drawing their attention to the figure on the bed. Evan had woken up, his eyes barely open, adjusting to the light. His hand not holding Maddie’s was holding the oxygen mask back over his face, a small smile visible through the hard plastic.</p><p>‘Evan, oh my god, hi’, Maddie sobbed a little in relief, smiling through a new batch of tears. Her free hand goin straight to her brother’s blood curls, brushing them back from his forehead. Eddie watched as he leant into his big sister soft touch. How Maddie had ever thought this man in front of them, gazing at his sister so adoringly, could ever hate or resent her was beyond him. It was clear in the two minutes that Evan had been awake, he did not hold any grudge towards his sister.</p><p>‘I’m so sorry Evan. I should have reached out, I should have tried harder to keep you from Doug’, Maddie sniffed, eyes never leaving her brothers face. Evan shook his head in response, going to remove the mask and talk but Maddie just held on gently to his face. ‘No Ev, I should have, and we will talk this out. I think we both need therapy after this, but we’ll deal with that once your home, with me. We’ll make things right, Doug is dead, Ev. He can’t hurt you anymore’.</p><p>Evan nodded, sighing with relief. He allowed a small tear to roll down his check, Maddie brushing it away.</p><p>Eddie cleared his throat, feeling as if he was interrupting the sibling’s reunion. ‘Maybe I should go get the doctor, they have to run so test on you, but I’m glad to see you’re okay man’.</p><p>Evan’s eyes snapped open fully, tearing his gaze from Maddie to Eddie’s, his brow pinching in thought before he tried to sit up quickly despite Maddie’s protests. His free hand pulling the mask down around his neck as he finally took stock of his surroundings. He watched as the younger man looked around his small private room. His heart rate jumped slightly on the monitor.</p><p>‘I can’t…I can’t go back with you Maddie’, Evan chocked, shaking his head furiously, wincing at the pain radiating from his headwound.</p><p>‘Evan, he’s gone you can-’, Maddie pleaded, whatever she was aiming to say was interrupted by Evan once again.</p><p>‘I need to see Sunflower and…and Daisy. I need to see Daisy. I have to go Maddie’, the younger man stated brokenly, panic tinging every word. He moved as if to get out of bed, but Maddie was there to steady him. Begging him to get back into bed as his legs swung over the edge.</p><p>Eddie began to move forward just as he heard a noise outside the room. There was scuffling and raised voices. He glanced at the arguing siblings before poking his head out the door. A couple of nurses were attempting to draw a woman back into her room, she struggled against them. One nurse moved to call out to a doctor, probably asking for sedation when Eddie caught sight of the woman’s face. It was Ali and in her arms was the little girl Maddie had carried out of the fire, playing with a lock of Ali’s hair as she rested on her shoulder.</p><p>‘Ali!’, Eddie called out, stepping out of the room as he heard the Buckley’s still arguing within the room. Ali whipped around at his voice, relief on her face as tears glazed her eyes. Eddie nodded to the nurses, getting them to step back and let the girl come forward, stumbling on tired feet.</p><p>‘Where’s Evan? I need…I need to see Evan’, Ali demanded, her eyes fierce despite the tears as she stared up at him. Eddie huffed a laugh, gesturing to the door he had stepped out from, ‘Be my guest, he was about to break out to see you’. Ali laughed, pressing a soft kiss to the forehead of the little girl, gesturing for Eddie to open the door before he could ask any further questions.</p><p>‘Maddie, let me go. I am fine’ Evans voiced drifted out the door, the panic still in his croaked and painful sounding words as Maddie refused to move from his bedside. However before Maddie could argue back, another voice brought Evan’s eyes from his immoveable sister preventing his escape to the doorway where Eddie and Ali stood.</p><p>‘Dada! I found you!’, the little girl in Ali’s arms giggled in delight. Her chubby arms reaching out towards Evan, bright blue eyes crinkly behind soft messy brown curls as she made grabby hands at the figure sitting on the bed.</p><p>Maddie and Eddie watched in surprise as Evan sobbed, tears finally falling down his bruised and battered cheeks as the tension drained from his body. His arms instantly out, speechless at the sight of the little girl reaching for him. Ali stepped forward, tears on her own cheeks as she handed the girl to Evan. Eddie watched in understanding as the first thing Evan did was hold his daughter against his chest, her little face pressed against his neck, breathing in the scent of her hair, eyes that matched the little girl in his arms closing. It was something Eddie had done dozens of times after tough calls with his own son.</p><p>‘Yeah baby, you found me. I’m right here Daisy, I got you’ Evan sobbed, watching as his daughter pulled back, tiny hand going to her dad’s cheeks. ‘You got something on your face dada’, she frowned, fingers brushing the mask and his tears, before staring up at her father and giggling, ‘You look like a alien, dada’.</p><p>‘You have…? She’s…she looks just like you did…even the birthmark’, Maddie spoke, breaking the Eddie and Ali’s gaze away from the pair giggling on the bed as Evan made faces at his daughter, his fingers poking her chubby cheeks, making the little girl laugh harder. Filling the room with a burst of joy it sorely needed.</p><p>‘She’s the only good thing to come of all this’, Ali spoke softly, arms wrapping around herself, ‘The made me and Evan…. perform and sometimes we couldn’t protect ourselves. Normally when one of us got pregnant…they disappeared but they knew, they knew they could control Evan if he had someone to protect. Up until we had Daisy four years ago, he was constantly fighting to get everyone out. They tried to break him, but he kept getting girls and guys out, until Daisy. He would do anything even if he was punished or hurt for it, but not Daisy. We could never risk her’.</p><p>Eddie understood as he watched Evan hug his daughter close, whispering to her softly. He would burn the entire world to the ground if it meant protecting Christopher, but if the only way to protect him was to submit, then Eddie would follow every rule to make sure his son was safe.</p><p>‘Dada?’, Daisy fake whisper from her place on Evan’s lap, shyly glancing at Eddie and Maddie, ‘Who are those people? Are they friends or bad people?’.</p><p>Evan smiled at his daughter, ‘Daisy these are Dada’s friends’. He smirked as he points at Eddie, eyes sweeping over them before gazing back down at Daisy, ‘That’s the hot firefighter that helped dada fight all the bad guys tonight. Just like I promised I would’.</p><p>Eddie laughed, waving his fingers at Daisy as she giggled, hiding in Evans shoulder shyly before peeking out once more, eyes settling on Maddie who had moved closer to the pair on the bed. Eddie watched as Evan reached out a hand towards her, pulling her to sit beside him as Daisy watched with big curious eyes.</p><p>‘Daisy, this your Aunt Maddie. Remember all the stories about my superhero from when I was as small as you? This is her, baby. This is the person who loved dada so much that he was able to grow up big and strong so he could protect you. Want to say hi to Aunt Maddie, baby?’ Evan spoke softly, his voice filled with love, glancing between his sister and daughter.</p><p>Daisy reached out, grabbing one of Maddie’s fingers where it rested against Evan’s leg, and she felt it again. The same squeeze she had felt twenty-five years ago as looked into big blue eyes and fell in love all over again. She rested her head on her brothers’ shoulder and let it all soak in. Let her family, this little girl clinging to her finger with love in her eyes, give her the peace she had lost when she had lost her brother.</p><p> She was safe. Evan was safe. And there was nothing Maddie wouldn’t do going forward to preserve this feeling.</p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>You can blame any tears on a friend for encouraging me to write this</p><p>I want to make this a series so comments would be great on if you want more of this AU!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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